THE RIVER AVON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6291, 23 September 1898, Page 4

THE RIVER AVON.

& j flfe^ting of delegates from the four rowiatg eU' tDS °^ ®* c *^*y was ne^ at the Union l&'o«*i. n g Club ' c * hed lasfc ev ening to consrdV the question of improving the river A*S», 3\ 9ie *v**e present :-Messrs F. Fuller, 35. V* Kestoveu, F E. Hyman, Macbeth, E J?. H " H> Smith, J, J4'/sb-aa?il.a<id J- Mitchell. "2t**i a -fr' ' Ct -afii&pck waa appointed The Chairman said that^tlie 3-aleo-ates knew what the meeting ha d fteen call«d for. It was needless to ea :un«at on the state of the river, and he n' ouBA ask them to proceed to discuss the , question of its improvement. Mr Fuller had* a suhem* which he would ask him to explain. Sir Fuller pointed oni: that? the City Council and the Drainage Board! had had the question of the imjxrovenianfe of the river under consideration for aeaae time but had done nothing, and it was left for the rowing men to take the raatter up , He would like to make it clea2it&ai they were not taking it up from a puaaly selfish I point of view as rowing men, butthej were [ actuated pa rtly by a public spirfo. Some i years ago a scheme had been propounded to dredge the whole river, but tftat would lower the level of the water,, while the erection of a weir or a dam; would be objected to by the owners of !:*ad on the river banks on the ground that the water would thus bo backed up on t». their property. His idea was that juet below the East Belt footbridge an excavation should be made in the bed of the xiver, and a concrete dam should be put in, the top of which would be eighteen finches below the surface of the watetjj. and about a mile lower down a second dam of similar size should ha constructed. He had called them dams for the sake of convenience, but they were in reality what he might call silt-obstructors, and a short distance below the second obstruction & smaller dam would be placed to catch any silt that might pass the other two. The stretch of river between the dams &r groins would be dredged out to a depth of two feet below the present bed, so that that portion would have a satisfactory depth of water. The flow of the water would not be interfered with at all, as the proposal practically infant cutting a h o ] e j u t ue bed of the river. After the first dredging, the only work that would need to be undertaken for a very considerable time would be the removal, at necessary intervals, of the silt that would accumulate against the groins. The great advantage would be that, instead of having the silt spread over the whole river-bed, they would have it caught by these groins, near tho first of which the bed of the. river would be sloped. Some silt would, no doubt settle in the stretch botweon the groins, but the amount would be very email,, and when necessary it could be dredged Out. If the experiment proved successful, the principle could be applied to the upper reaches of the river, He bad submitted the proposal to 2lv Oakley Archer, who thought the principle was sound, and to Mr Cuthbert, who considered the scheme feasible. Two other practical men to whom he had spoken had expressed the opinion that the scheme was a good one. If they could get a. decent bottom in the river, they would have no difficulty about the dredging. The Drainage Board was at present paying between ifCOO and <£7GO a year for cleaniug the river, and the money might be well spent; on the present scheme. Sir, Fuller answered several questions; and exhibited a. plan, kindly prepared by -Mr P. N. Hunt, to iUustrateJns proposal. '„..■• Mr Smith asked whether the dredging of the river below the second dam would not reduce the depth of water between the dams. ■ "

Mr Fuller said that perhaps it would, but" only to a slight extent, and it would be counteracted by the tidal watbr. After some discussion, Mr- Fuller suggested that they should have a few copies of the plan made, and appoint a deputation to wait on the Drainage Board, City Council and Linwood Borough Council, and lay the scheme before them, asking the Drainage Board and the City Council to get their engineers to report on the matter. The Chairman asked if Mr Fuller considered it would be necessary to bring before the local bodies the necessity of preventing so much silt being carried into the river from the sewers. Mr Fuller said the stretch proposed to be dredged would escape the worst drains, and those that did run into it could be trapped. Mr Macbeth asked if it would not be possible to put in at Wright's Corner a weir which could be removed in winter. Mr Fuller said the inhabitants would object to a weir, and boating men, he thought, would not appreciate having to get out of their boats to cros3 it. Messrs Fuller, Craddock and Cowlishaw were appointed a sub-committee to lay the scheme before the local bodies interested, and ask for the str vices of the Drainage Board's Engineer and the City Surveyor to report aa to the estimated cost. The Chairman reminded the members of the meeting of the Floral Fete Committee this evening. ' The meeting then closed.